The Board denied the veteran's request to reopen his claim for service connection for bilateral foot disorders and also denied his request to reopen his claim for a low back disorder. The decision is final as of January 1995.
The deciding factor: New and material evidence was not submitted to reopen either claim.
- Claimed conditions
- chronic low back disorder, bilateral foot disorders
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 12, 2004
- Citation
- 0404145
Veterans Law Judge
Judge attribution: 2025 complete; earlier years partial.
This is a plain-language summary generated by AI from a public Board of Veterans’ Appeals decision. It can contain errors — always verify against the original. Look up the original decision on VA.gov (opens in a new tab) using citation 0404145.
What this means for you
A denial is a starting point, not the end of the road. You can see why this claim fell short — and, if you are still inside the one-year window, the appeal lanes that may remain open to you.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Board has granted the Veteran's claim for service connection for thoracolumbar strain, finding that it began in service and is related to his military service.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for chronic low back disorder and right leg disorder, finding that the current disabilities are not causally related to service.
- Denied
The Board denied earlier effective dates for service connection and initial ratings, as well as special monthly compensation.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claim for service connection for bilateral foot disorders, including plantar fasciitis, as secondary to his service-connected PTSD is being remanded due to the lack of a thorough opinion addressing the potential intermediate step of obesity/weight gain in relation to his PTSD and foot disorders.
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